BEST PRACTICES IN INTERNAL COMMUNICATION STRATEGY FOR NON-DESK WORKERS

Transcription

1 BEST PRACTICES IN INTERNAL COMMUNICATION STRATEGY FOR NON-DESK WORKERS

2 BEST PRACTICES INTRODUCTION 2 The communication challenge The engagement challenge The solution HOW TO ONBOARD EMPLOYEES 4 Define goals Spot champions and get them involved Set clear metrics Set up a 4-week communications strategy Organize a kick-off event HOW TO BOOST ENGAGEMENT 6 Share company s achievements Connect all departments Recognize employees achievements Encourage competition Ask managers to lead by example BEEKEEPER AS A SOLUTION 7 BEST PRACTICES - HOW TO SET UP YOUR INTERNAL COMMUNICATION FOR NON-DESK WORKERS 1

3 INTRODUCTION Developing an internal communication strategy for office workers has a playbook and is commonly talked about in corporate circles. There are almost too many digital communication channels at your disposal in-house, allowing for efficient and effective communication by utilizing the channels that best fit your company culture. However, the same things that work for office workers don t necessarily translate to remote workers or employees who spend their time working in the field. These employees usually don t have access to because of their roles on the floor or in the field. Even more, companies are often stuck in the past, depending on printed materials and other offline communication channels to reach their employees. This results in two major challenges for developing internal communications strategy for non-desk workers: communication and engagement. THE COMMUNICATION CHALLENGE With traditional internal communication, there is no efficient way to reach non-desk workers. As many as 83% of employees who work in the field don t even have a corporate address ³ However, 72% of those employees already use a mobile device and social media platforms. In order to communicate with your non-desk workers, you have to go where they are, which is why implementing a mobile platform is the best way to communicate with them. As more and more millennials enter the workplace, the need for a mobile platform grows. 85% of millennials owned a mobile device in 2014, a segment that is growing year after year.⁴ With every passing year, communicating with your nondesk workers via mobile will pay bigger dividends. In fact, many companies find that employees are already using their mobile devices for internal communication; popular apps like WhatsApp are being used as de facto internal communication platforms by many employees. While it s a good sign that employees are so interested in staying in touch that they are coming up with their own methods, there are always risks when using apps and platforms that were not expressly created for internal communication. Some apps may even be illegal to use within your company, and many prove to be serious security risks. THE ENGAGEMENT CHALLENGE One of the primary reasons to facilitate and encourage superior internal communication is to improve employee engagement. Because non-desk workers aren t present in the office, it can be hard to engage with them via traditional techniques and incentives. Communication is often one way from the top down which can feel like they aren t getting the feedback they need or being recognized for their work. The perks of officelife, like company provided lunches, events, and group fitness challenges aren t really an option for non-desk workers. And BEST PRACTICES - HOW TO SET UP YOUR INTERNAL COMMUNICATION FOR NON-DESK WORKERS 2

4 unfortunately, many managers forget the employees they don t see on a regular basis and focus solely on those in the office with them. Internal communication has long been linked to employee engagement. In fact, there is a linear relationship between wellorganized and effective communication and increased employee engagement.¹ Even more, increased employee engagement results in reduced costs and stable business operations.² A transparent real-time two-way communication environment helps employees feel more attached to their company and perform better in their job. While this is a common problem, it no longer needs to remain this way. Just because an employee isn t in the office doesn t mean they can t be engaged. Those employees are doing the job out in the field and the quality of the product is connected to their engagement within the larger organization. So it s imperative to keep them engaged and in the communication loop. operational communication and increased overall engagement. A solution like this can offer an impressive return on all employee engagement in your business, but it will likely be the most welcomed by your non-desk workers. Chris Dermody, the CIO of Denver Water, recently pointed out how they were able to use mobile communication to bridge the gap between field and office workers: The beauty of our mobile platform is that it integrates communication, information and process flows between field works and headoffice workers/managers. Not only is the work at a high level of efficiency and less cost, it s done with higher quality and higher levels of accountability, all of which drive better customer service. ⁵ THE SOLUTION One solution could be bringing your non-desk workers into a transparent real-time mobile communications environment. Allow them use their phones (they are doing it anyway), but provide them a tool you control. With the right platform you ll be able to reach your employees and communicate urgent and important updates to keep them engaged. By doing this you achieve two goals at once: increased adoption rate for better BEST PRACTICES - HOW TO SET UP YOUR INTERNAL COMMUNICATION FOR NON-DESK WORKERS 3

5 HOW TO ONBOARD EMPLOYEES However, a mobile solution only works if it is actually used. As the mobile app market has exploded and mobile communication options have expanded, they threaten to overwhelm users. Integrating a new internal communication platform carries the risk of not being used by the users themselves. A successful and engaging implementation process can help mitigate this risk. Here are 5 things that will help your company put a new internal communication tool into action: DEFINE GOALS Before implementing a new mobile internal communication tool it is crucial that you first plan out your company goals for it. Identify the most significant use cases asking yourself, as well as management and your internal communications team, questions like how will our employees use our mobile communication platform? or what is the issue that we are primarily trying to solve? Some examples of the things you could do with a mobile platform are sending corporate news, changes in processes, department news or survey employees to get feedback. You outcomes could be things like reducing turnover rates, increasing employee engagement and collaboration or automating the onboarding process. SPOT CHAMPIONS AND GET THEM INVOLVED It is very important to identify champions or key influencers in your new platform. These people will help spread the word and get your employees excited about the tool. Get them involved early and often during the adoption process. In many cases these workers will have leadership roles in the company, whether it s a C-suite executive, department managers, or operations employees. Foster and encourage their involvement, working with them on what they can share on the new platform and how are they going to drive their colleagues engagement. SET CLEAR METRICS While there is no absolute value to measure the success of your new communication strategy, it is important to set some clear metrics that help measure how healthy your platform is. From our experience with diverse companies, adoption and activity rates are useful yardsticks to measure success. What numbers should you target? Well, it may depend on your company size and culture, but industry averages show that healthy communication platforms present 50% monthly active users (users accessing the system) and 20% daily active users. You can also take into account that on average, healthy communication platforms have around 15% of their users contributing, generating content and interacting with the system every month. BEST PRACTICES - HOW TO SET UP YOUR INTERNAL COMMUNICATION FOR NON-DESK WORKERS 4

6 SET UP A 4-WEEK COMMUNICATIONS STRATEGY Before launching an internal communication platform, it is highly recommended to prepare in advance some of the content that you will publish. The first month is crucial to get people involved, so think about two or three things that you can post every week in the month following the launch. This material should include powerful, personalized content like welcome messages, good news, achievements and KPI s. Schedule a communication plan that is aligned with your the goals you ve previously established. Don t forget to involve your champions and key influencers in your strategy. ORGANIZE A KICK-OFF EVENT When it s time to unveil the new platform, make it an event within your company to grab the attention of your workers. A fun, dynamic and engaging event plays an essential role in your implementation process. Account for an hour or two, depending on the size of your team. You may want to break the routine and have it done in a fresh and informal environment. At the event tell everyone about the new tool and all the wonderful things you will do with it. Make sure all employees download the platform at the event, login and start using it. A successful implementation process will set the ground for a successful adoption and a healthy communication platform. But once employees are onboard, it is time ensure they stay engaged. BEST PRACTICES - HOW TO SET UP YOUR INTERNAL COMMUNICATION FOR NON-DESK WORKERS 5

7 HOW TO BOOST ENGAGEMENT To be able to reach people and communicate urgent and important updates, you have to keep them engaged. If you ve on boarded your employees correctly, they will be hungry to receive the content you send them. But it s important to makes sure you choose the correct content to keep them engaged. Here are 5 ways to use the new platform to increase engagement: SHARE COMPANY S ACHIEVEMENTS If your company does something extraordinary or interesting, tell your employees. This is particularly important in large companies when departments are separated. Many employees have no idea what goes on in other parts of the company, so being notified on important achievements keeps them interested in what s going on. CONNECT ALL DEPARTMENTS In addition to just updating departments on their achievements, encourage communication between different locations, departments, and, of course, your non-desk workers. Offer rewards for the ideas other departments/locations could implement to improve their performance. RECOGNIZE EMPLOYEES ACHIEVEMENTS Non-desk workers rarely get recognized for the work they do, and with traditional internal communication they often wouldn t even know if they were recognized. And provide additional opportunities for other employees to share their achievements and updates. This will facilitate conversations, and further engage employees. ENCOURAGE COMPETITION A little healthy competition can go a long way in facilitating engagement. We began working with one of our clients after they completed a merger of three hotel brands. They chose to incorporate inter-hotel and individual competitions. Hotels in the group love competing with each other, and employees actively participate for the chance to win. The company also organizes quarterly contests in the tool to increase adoption rate and keep people using the tool. ASK MANAGERS TO LEAD BY EXAMPLE If employees don t see their managers using the new system, they won t either. It s often helpful to offer Q&A sessions online or allow employees to ask questions directly to management. The more engaged management is, the more engaged the employee will be. A successful onboarding and subsequent push to boost engagement will ensure all employees, from typical office workers to those in the field, become familiar with your new mobile platform. BEST PRACTICES - HOW TO SET UP YOUR INTERNAL COMMUNICATION FOR NON-DESK WORKERS 6

8 BEEKEEPER AS A SOLUTION At Beekeeper, we provide all the necessary inputs to help you implement your new mobile platform successfully. With an active and friendly customer success team, a 24/7 support service and powerful analytics, we facilitate your implementation process to ensure its success. We understand the importance of proper implementation, and our vision is to connect the unconnected, particularly companies with a large number of non-desk workers. We know the challenge to integrate them to the rest of the company is real, and we bridge the gap for you. You can customize it, set up automated messages and create internal communication streams endless opportunities for making communication more simple, efficient and keeping your team more engaged and ultimately happy. Our goal is to provide high quality and engaging tools for staff communication. We want to help people who are geographically distanced from each other feel as if they were sitting right next to each other and up connect with what is happening in their organization. We want to be the channel that unites your company, and the solution that brings your non-desk workers into the fold. 1 Karanges, E., Beatson, A., Johnston, K., & Lings, I. (2014). Optimizing employee engagement with internal communication: A social exchange perspective. Journal of Business Market Management, 7, Markos, S., Employee engagement: The key to improving performance. J. Bus. Manage., 5: Demordy, C. (n.d.). Bridge The Gap Between Field Workers And Head Office. Retrieved April 18, 2016, from utilities.cioreview.com/cioviewpoint/bridge-the-gapbetween-field-workers-and-head-office-nid-320-cid-90.html 4 Newswire. (n.d.). Retrieved April 18, 2016, from nielsen.com/us/en/insights/news/2014/mobile-millennialsover-85-percent-of-generation-y-owns-smartphones.html 5 Demordy, C. (n.d.). Bridge The Gap Between Field Workers And Head Office. Retrieved April 18, 2016, from cioreview.com/cioviewpoint/bridge-the-gap-between-fieldworkers-and-head-office-nid-320-cid-90.html BEST PRACTICES - HOW TO SET UP YOUR INTERNAL COMMUNICATION FOR NON-DESK WORKERS 7

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